"Winter is Coming" is the title of a book by Garry Kasparov published in 2015. In it he warned that Russia’s descent from a nascent democracy into a full-blown dictatorship under Vladimir Putin made it a threat to the West and world peace. "Garry could be forgiven for declaring: I bloody told you so," writes Malcolm Pein in the April 2022 edition of CHESS Magazine. In it he describes the consequences the Russian invasion of Ukraine has for the world of chess.
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In the aftermath of anti-government protests that swept Russia in late January and early February, a very different trend is emerging. In numerous cities across the country, students and worker collectives are coming together to record choreographed video clips in support of President Vladimir Putin.
In Siberia, the Urals, and towns around Moscow, employees have donned the uniforms of the factories they staff and waved their arms in unison to the sound of patriotic music and slogans like “Putin is our president!” and “Vladimir Vladimirovich, we’re with you!”
Government newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta gushed: “Factory hands, volunteers, athletes, staff of major enterprises, and people who are simply not indifferent are recording video addresses to Vladimir Putin with words of gratitude.”
Pro-Kremlin Media Airs Putin-Praising ‘Flashmob’ Performance Updated: Jan. 29, 2021
Employees of an online retail platform in Russia’s fourth-largest city of Yekaterinburg have expressed their support for President Vladimir Putin in a massive dance flashmob.
In the video, which was widely distributed by pro-Kremlin media channels, hundreds of Sima Land employees march and dance in military-style uniforms to patriotic Russian pop songs like “When They Beat Us, We Fly” and “Russia Go On!” While the employees are seen wearing face masks, they crowd closely together.
“When we are beaten up, we just rise higher and higher from the pain,” a song by Russian-Uzbek singer Nargiz Zakirova says while the crowd performs rehearsed dance moves.